December - First Weeks In Veracruz

Thursday, December 30, 2010

One last stop at Chela's Tacos before we're off to Houston to catch our plane!

USAA Children's Christmas party was also the morning we were leaving...one more stop!

After one night in Houston, we were off direct to Veracruz.

Emma with her cousin Rochie and her Grandmother Abuela Chagua.

Hooray for no car seats! More snuggle time with Momma.

Halloween 2010

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

This Halloween was kind of thrown together last minute. Emma ended up changing costumes twice on Halloween day (the girl has about 10 costumes in her dress-up basket in her room) and Ben, well since he's a boy and none of Emma's fairy costumes would work, we had to get creative. Officially Emma was first a Mexican folk dancer (she called herself "jarocha") and Ben was a soccer player. Later for trick-or treating Emma changed her costume to be a fairy. This is the same costume fit her 2 years ago!

Shots From Ben's Birthday Party (and a video, too!)

Sunday, October 31, 2010

From His Perspective: 2 Years Old

Friday, October 29, 2010

When Ben was 9 months old I wrote my first from his perspective. A 2 year-old! update:

Things that make me smile: favorite songs like Slow and Fast, a bottle of milk (because we are taking it away hehe), talking to Grandpa on the phone when he makes silly noises, rocking out with Papi, playing chase with Emma, swinging and sliding at the park, the garbage truck, the neighbors, Go Diego Go, kisses on the feet, rhymes in favorite books like "Go Dog Go" and "Ten Apples Up on Top".

Things that make me sad (or mad...I do have a temper!): When Mami leaves, oh no! Going in time-out, getting locked out of a room, going to bed without GATA, not sharing, taking too long to get me out of my crib, not letting me cook with Mami, when Emma doesn't play with me.

Things that make me curious: vehicles, electronic gadgets like IPods, remotes, plugging and unplugging, new toys and books, other children, the kitchen, most anything my sister does...

My favorite things to do: play with my cars, eat tacos, go outside and play, spend time with Mami cooking and Papi dancing to "colas de rata!", copy what people say and then laugh (just like he did in this video) talk to Grandpa on the phone, watch the trolleys downtown.

September

Saturday, October 16, 2010

I cut Emma's hair bob-style. This is 1 of her silly faces.

Haha one of my favorites of the pair. (Another silly face.)

I finished the birds on Emma's tree which officially renders this work completed!

Try and get them to sit still, and smile, and look at the camera...yeah...impossible.

This was the day of USAA's IT party at SeaWorld. It was amazing to us that Emma wanted to have her shoes off AND walk through the sand barefoot. Previously this would have been a revolting activity due to eczema discomfort. It's little things like this that make my day...

A Fabulous Trip to NY

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Aunt Katie and Emma on the trampoline at my Mom's.

Handsome Ben.

Emma started insisting on silly faces instead of smiles. This rebellious nature is definitely on her father's side of the family :)

Papi was able to visit with us for about 10 days of our trip.

Holly-Gram dancing with Ben at a Numbers family gathering.

On Aug. 30 we traveled to Rhinebeck, NY to visit Emma with the famous Dr. Kenneth Bock. What an honor. This man cures autism!

Emma and Ben enjoying delicious NY apples on a blanket at the lake.

Lots of playing outside due to the beautiful weather.

Grandparents Numbers took us to Animal Land, which is like a fairytale land/zoo rolled into one.

Finally the boy sits still on Grandpa's shoulders! What a mad chase he gave us all!

Emma and Grandpa with a baby cow.

Grandpa giving kids a wagon ride around the neighborhood.

Yeah! Pa-pa's Harley boots!

The last day we were there we attended my Grandmother's Uncle Joe's wake service. These were sad days, but allowed us to sincerely reflect on the beauty of life and on God. Rest in peace Uncle Joe.

We spent half of our time at my Dad's house and the other half at my Mom's - although you wouldn't be able to tell from the pictures! Sorry to Mom, Katie, Amy, Nick, John and even our favorite Roxy the dog for having very few pictures of you all! You know we love you just the same. And if you guys shot any pictures, send them my way so I can add them!

Summer Garden and Food

No this is not from my garden. This is the beautiful produce I hope to someday grow but purchase from our CSA Scott Arbor. Delicious stuff.

But this baby I am very proud to say I grew myself in my home garden.

This summer I started selling homemade chicken and beef stocks.

July-August

At the beginning of the summer, we were outdoors as much as possible. But later we had to find some indoor fun as the temps got up into the high 90s. Erin and I had fun taking the kids to Tumbleweeds, Six Flags, and Minitown. Here are some summer shots:

Ben being so silly!

Emma playing dress up at Tumbleweeds.

At the park on the way to the Farmer's Market.

Emma with her snack. She started her diet in July.

Playing soccer at USAA grounds.

Emmarella

Monday, July 5, 2010

This silly goose is my princess-aholic.

Don't be fooled - she's got attitude.

She's quite the expert in dressing up, marrying, kissing...

Emma the silly bird.

Emma's eczema and sensitive skin conditions have gotten quite a bit worse in the past 2 months. Life is not like a kid's should be.

Today we are going to try a new diet for Emma and with the whole family (Specific Carbohydrate Diet). One year ago I tried a pretty strict diet (GAPS) and we lasted 4 days. Emma was so picky back then that she would rather starve than eat wholesome food. Now that she's a little older and eating more wholesome foods, my prayer is that this will be easier on all of us. We have been seeing a nutritionist who recommends this diet. There are miraculous stories of children being cured of autism, asperger's, chronic diarrhea, diverticulitis, even Chron's disease. Hopefully the duration and intensity won't be as terrible with us because Emma's condition is not as severe as those mentioned. We are trying to restore proper function of the digestive tract (leaky gut, gut dysbiosis) as well as greatly decrease the amount of yeast or candida present. Once these conditions are stable, I believe her eczema will go away completely or greatly and all digestive problems AND ALLERGIES will disappear (except maybe peanut). My goal is to do this diet solid until we leave for NY on Aug. 17, and at that time, re-evaluate. Here it goes....scrambled eggs for breakfast!

Garden Hiccups

Success! A lovely growing cantaloupe.

A hollow, dried-out wax bean from a diseased plant :(

Poor cucumber babies. They did so well last year!

RRRARRR! Birdies get away from my tomatoes!

Homemade scarecrow. Could anything be scarier than a red balloon-headed Emma? If the disease isn't getting my tomatoes, the birdies will not, either! Little monsters.